An evil planet named Meteo is sending storms of world-ending meteors across the galaxy, and only your puzzle skills can stop them. As blocks drop down on the lower screen, you must use the DS's stylus to match up blocks of the same color. Once you have enough blocks connected, they'll shoot back into the sky to form planets on the upper screen.
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I remember it being a pretty fun puzzle game with the menu from Smash Bros Melee.
HOLD THE FORT. You mean to tell me that Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Masahiro Sakurai collaborated on a falling block puzzle game in 2006 and I'm just now finding out about it??
In short, this game rules. Sakurai brings the Melee orchestral soundfont, quirky game menus, charming art direction and scenario, and simple twist on a beloved genre that completely reinvents its gameplay. Mizuguchi brings the snappy gamefeel, reactive sound design, and overall dopamine-inducing game design. Together, they've made an addicting little time waster that's perfect as a pre-bedtime ritual.
Notably, this game is designed in such a way that I can't imagine it working on anything but the DS due to the touchscreen. Maybe a modern smartphone or even Switch port is possible, but Meteos is one of those classic victims of innovation left in the dust by the modern games industry.
In short, this game rules. Sakurai brings the Melee orchestral soundfont, quirky game menus, charming art direction and scenario, and simple twist on a beloved genre that completely reinvents its gameplay. Mizuguchi brings the snappy gamefeel, reactive sound design, and overall dopamine-inducing game design. Together, they've made an addicting little time waster that's perfect as a pre-bedtime ritual.
Notably, this game is designed in such a way that I can't imagine it working on anything but the DS due to the touchscreen. Maybe a modern smartphone or even Switch port is possible, but Meteos is one of those classic victims of innovation left in the dust by the modern games industry.
After Tetris you would think that there were only so many tile matching style score-attack puzzle game systems that exist. Whilst it’s a subgenre that hasn’t had the hugest innovations over the years it is a well that has been repeatedly visited by games over and over again and one that I will quite happily take a sip from each time.
Back in 2005 it was Kirby’s dad Masahiro Sakurai’s turn and alongside was the dual screens of Nintendo’s handheld system of the time.
What he came up with was fairly innovative, some good fun but ultimately for me, not one I can see being in my rotation of puzzlers to go back to and relax with.
Meteos like many of its kind before have blocks drop from the top of the screen, you cannot turn them but with the stylus slide a single block up and down columns where you please.
One big difference here is matching does not instantly delete blocks (in most cases), match three vertically and the entire column fires up like a rocket, match horizontally and they become platform lifting all the blocks above them.
Ultimately you are sending the falling blocks, or meteors, back into space and potentially towards an enemy's planet - this being the main theme throughout the game.
Sakurai has stated that the game wasn’t initially targeted for DS but says, and I agree, that use of the stylus made the block sliding and matching feel much more fluid and faster than via a d-pad.
From my perspective I really appreciate sending the meteors off the top of the touchscreen and seeing the explosions and results at the top, but when the game picks up speed and difficulty I find myself not seeing any of it which is a shame.
Meteos interplanetary theme brings in a few other innovations and a surprising amount of variety in what is a well covered genre.
Each planet has different block rates, each has their own rules, be that being faster, slower, vertical or horizontal combinations being more powerful or other slight changes to the feel of play.
As you would expect each planet has its own background and even different block art but however much this fits the theme I found many of these quite ugly to look at, some being more difficult to match at speed than others and when that is your primary objective it isn’t ideal.
Overall I never fell in love with Meteos presentation but I could not call it bad, the menus have a very Smash Bros. feel which isn’t surprising and keeps even the menus feeling exciting yet simple to navigate.
Sending falling blocks directly back up rather than destroying them is definitely an interesting innovation. The feel of lining another horizontal row of blocks as your original struggles to reach the top, causing a small boost, is quite enjoyable but not as snappy and as satisfying late Puyo colour match or a T-spin.
If, like me, you enjoy falling blocks then this is definitely one you should try and the DS is a fantastic way to enjoy the genre. However you’ll probably find your way back to Puyo Puyo, Panel de Pon or the Daddy which is Tetris in no time.
Back in 2005 it was Kirby’s dad Masahiro Sakurai’s turn and alongside was the dual screens of Nintendo’s handheld system of the time.
What he came up with was fairly innovative, some good fun but ultimately for me, not one I can see being in my rotation of puzzlers to go back to and relax with.
Meteos like many of its kind before have blocks drop from the top of the screen, you cannot turn them but with the stylus slide a single block up and down columns where you please.
One big difference here is matching does not instantly delete blocks (in most cases), match three vertically and the entire column fires up like a rocket, match horizontally and they become platform lifting all the blocks above them.
Ultimately you are sending the falling blocks, or meteors, back into space and potentially towards an enemy's planet - this being the main theme throughout the game.
Sakurai has stated that the game wasn’t initially targeted for DS but says, and I agree, that use of the stylus made the block sliding and matching feel much more fluid and faster than via a d-pad.
From my perspective I really appreciate sending the meteors off the top of the touchscreen and seeing the explosions and results at the top, but when the game picks up speed and difficulty I find myself not seeing any of it which is a shame.
Meteos interplanetary theme brings in a few other innovations and a surprising amount of variety in what is a well covered genre.
Each planet has different block rates, each has their own rules, be that being faster, slower, vertical or horizontal combinations being more powerful or other slight changes to the feel of play.
As you would expect each planet has its own background and even different block art but however much this fits the theme I found many of these quite ugly to look at, some being more difficult to match at speed than others and when that is your primary objective it isn’t ideal.
Overall I never fell in love with Meteos presentation but I could not call it bad, the menus have a very Smash Bros. feel which isn’t surprising and keeps even the menus feeling exciting yet simple to navigate.
Sending falling blocks directly back up rather than destroying them is definitely an interesting innovation. The feel of lining another horizontal row of blocks as your original struggles to reach the top, causing a small boost, is quite enjoyable but not as snappy and as satisfying late Puyo colour match or a T-spin.
If, like me, you enjoy falling blocks then this is definitely one you should try and the DS is a fantastic way to enjoy the genre. However you’ll probably find your way back to Puyo Puyo, Panel de Pon or the Daddy which is Tetris in no time.
Another quirky puzzle game on the Nintendo DS, but this one is by the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai. The game requires you to defeat warring planets by shooting Meteos at this. This is done by matching a set of 3 Meteos on your screen to shoot it off to another planet.
This is not as simple as it may seem. Each planet you come across has its unique properties like how fast blocks fall or how many matches you need to send them into orbit. It is very in-depth for a puzzle game, and yet it is simple enough that anyone can pick it up and learn.
With that said, this is held back by its surprising lack of features, as it only offers a simple arcade mode, an endless mode, and variations of multiplayer/single-player score attack modes. It is also held back by its controls, as the size of the Meteos is quite small and can be hard to maneuver on such a small screen.
This is a very unique game that I have never really seen people play or talk about much, so I would love to see a sequel or some sort of successor to this game. Any puzzle enthusiast should take a look.
This is not as simple as it may seem. Each planet you come across has its unique properties like how fast blocks fall or how many matches you need to send them into orbit. It is very in-depth for a puzzle game, and yet it is simple enough that anyone can pick it up and learn.
With that said, this is held back by its surprising lack of features, as it only offers a simple arcade mode, an endless mode, and variations of multiplayer/single-player score attack modes. It is also held back by its controls, as the size of the Meteos is quite small and can be hard to maneuver on such a small screen.
This is a very unique game that I have never really seen people play or talk about much, so I would love to see a sequel or some sort of successor to this game. Any puzzle enthusiast should take a look.
My favorite puzzle game. Gameplay is incredibly satisfying and I love the design of the aliens and planets.
Music is simple but is a good barometer of how well you are doing in game.
Music is simple but is a good barometer of how well you are doing in game.
It's a mechanically solid high score type puzzle game, but that isn't one of my favorite genres.